Court of Parisian Splendor Exhibit Debuts Alongside Te Amo, Fiesta at the Witte

June 28, 2021 - San Antonio

By Gaige Davila, Freelance Reporter | San Antonio Sentinel

Two Fiesta-centric exhibits in San Antonio’s Witte Museum showcase the past, present and future of the city’s more-than-a-century-long festival, returning nearly a year and a half after its cancellation. 

Most of the city’s Fiesta events center in or around downtown: loud, boisterous and celebratory. But up on Broadway, inside the first and second floors of the Witte Museum, tucked away from the museum’s kid-friendly exhibits, sits quiet, reverential displays of Fiesta. 

The Court of Parisian Splendor is the Witte’s display of this year’s Parisian-themed Fiesta gowns, opened to the public on June 26. 

“They are all really spectacular,” Heather Russo, Chief of Advancement at The Witte Museum, said on the exhibit’s opening day. 

The gowns were donated by this year’s Order of the Alamo, who held a private coronation event. With the city’s Fiesta street parades cancelled, where the Order of the Alamo would have had a chance to flash their extravagant fashion, the gowns were never seen by the public until now. 

“Normally these would be on display, they would have been worn during the Battle of Flowers parade, so (the Fiesta Royalty members) would be on the big floats, you’d see them drive by, they would be in the newspaper,” Russo said. “This is the first time, and only place, where you’re going to get to see them this close and get to appreciate that detail to them.” 

Some of the gowns feature Paris iconography, like Elizabeth Grace’s gown made by Javier Castillo, Sophie Aliece Falvey Garland’s gown of Claude Monet’s water lilies made by Roberto Gutierrez, Emily Alice’s gown of the Notre Dame Cathedral’s stained glass, also by Castillo, and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, also by Gutierrez. 

All the gowns are meticulously beased, taking countless hours to complete within 8 months. Atop the gowns are the crowns the women of Fiesta’s Royalty wore during their private coronation event.

The Te Amo, Fiesta exhibit is one of the Witte Museum’s annual Fiesta exhibit’s, paying homage to the festival’s decades of history. Notable features include former San Antonio Mayor Lila Cockrell’s Fiesta medal sashes, Fiesta Royalty gowns and suits from across decades—including the 2002 El Rey Fido’s cape—give visitors an all-encompassing view of Fiesta’s presence in San Antonio. 

The 2020 President of the Fiesta San Antonio Commission, Jeanie Travis, did not get to preside over the Fiesta she was elected for. Travis’ medal, badge and personalized boots are on display, as a way to pay homage to a Fiesta Commission president that did not preside over Fiesta. 

“As we were closed last year, and everyone was missing Fiesta, this (exhibit) became something that our team could ask themselves ‘How do we pour our love into?’” Russo said. “How do we look at all the different Royalty and San Antonio and then grab from modern to historic?’”

The artifacts come from the museum’s expansive collection of Fiesta memorabilia. Attendees can scan QR codes placed throughout the exhibit to hear explainers from the owners of the items displayed. 

The Te Amo, Fiesta exhibit is funded by the Fiesta San Antonio Commission. The Court of Parisian Splendor was sponsored by Billo Smith Studios. 

Te Amo, Fiesta is open from now to August 1 and is included in the museum’s general admission, which is $14 for adults and $10 for children. The Court of Parisian Splendor is open now until August 17 and can be accessed with the Witte’s “See It All” pass. The Witte, at 3801 Broadway St, is free from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. For more information on the Witte and its Fiesta exhibits, visit www.wittemuseum.org.

*All Photos by Gaige Davila

Gaige Davila is the editor of the Port Isabel-South Padre Press and South Padre Parade magazine based in Port Isabel, Texas. He is a freelance writer for the San Antonio Heron and the San Antonio Sentinel.